Mount Hymettus is the long mountain on the east side of Athens, in Attica. Its highest point is at 1,026 metres, and its lower slopes begin where the suburbs end. People from the city come here to walk. The best-known part is the pine forest on the west slope, around the Kaisariani Monastery, a Byzantine monastery of the late 11th or early 12th century that is kept as a monument. Easy paths lead from it to small churches, to the spring of Kalopoula and to viewpoints over Athens and the Saronic Gulf. A city bus from the centre of Athens stops close to the forest. From May to October, the forest roads are closed to cars on days of high fire risk.
Geography
Hymettus is a long, narrow mountain on the east side of Athens. It runs for about 16 kilometres from north to south, from the suburbs of the city to the coast of the Saronic Gulf, and it is only 6 to 7 kilometres wide. The highest point, Evzonas, reaches 1,026 metres. Its top holds transmitters and a radar station, and the road to it is open only to authorised vehicles.
The northern part of the mountain is higher and holds most of the forest. The southern part, which the ancient Greeks called the waterless Hymettus, is lower, rocky and bare. The rock is limestone and marble, and the marble has been quarried since ancient times. The limestone has caves. One of them, Koutouki, above the town of Paiania on the east side, was opened to visitors as a show cave. It has been closed for long periods, so check before you go.
Activities
Hymettus is a mountain for walking. More than 200 kilometres of paths cross it, and the best-known ones start at the Kaisariani Monastery, on the west slope above the suburb of Kaisariani. An easy circular walk of about 3 kilometres links the monastery, small Byzantine churches and the spring of Kalopoula in about an hour, almost all of it in the shade of the forest. A café stands at the spring. A harder route climbs about 500 metres from the edge of the forest to Korakovouni, a peak at 728 metres. On a clear day the view from it reaches the islands of the Saronic Gulf.
Longer routes cross the whole ridge from north to south, or from the Athens side to the east side. Wooden signposts and red paint marks show the way on the main routes, but many smaller paths are unmarked. The forest roads are also used for mountain biking.
History & Culture
The Kaisariani Monastery stands in the forest on the west slope, about 6 kilometres from the centre of Athens. It was built in the late 11th or early 12th century and has had no monks since 1833. It is kept as a monument of the Ministry of Culture, with an entrance ticket. Inside its outer wall are the church, a bathhouse, the refectory with its kitchen, and the monks' cells. The wall paintings in the entrance hall of the church date from 1682.
Short paths lead from it to other monuments. They include the remains of an early Christian church, a 10th-century church at the old cemetery of the monks, and the Asteriou Monastery, higher up the slope. Further north, the monastery of Agios Ioannis Kynigos is another starting point for walks on the mountain.
Nature & Outdoors
The Aesthetic Forest of Hymettus covers about 5 square kilometres on the west slope, around the Kaisariani Monastery. Most of it was planted. A society of volunteers, the Philodassiki, covered the bare slope with pines and cypresses between 1946 and 1988, and the state declared it a protected forest in 1974. Plane trees, poplars, laurels and an old olive grove grow around the monastery. The society keeps a botanical garden that visitors can enter, and a trail with name labels on the plants starts at the monastery.
About 700 plant species have been recorded in the forest, among them protected wild orchids. More than a hundred bird species have been recorded too, and foxes, hares, hedgehogs and tortoises live here. The mountain belongs to the European Natura 2000 network.
Practical information
Getting there
A city bus runs from the centre of the city to the edge of the forest. Line 224 leaves from the area of Syntagma Square, in Athens, and reaches its last stop, near the cemetery of the suburb of Kaisariani, in about 20 minutes. From there, walk uphill and pass under the motorway, and the forest begins. By car, a road climbs from Kaisariani to the Kaisariani Monastery. Cars park along this road, and at weekends the spaces fill early. Other paths start from the suburbs of Papagou and Ilioupoli.
Good to know
From May to October, the forest roads of Hymettus are closed to vehicles on days of high fire risk, and visitors may be told to stay out of the forest. Check the daily fire-risk map before you go. The Kaisariani Monastery opens in the morning and closes in the middle of the afternoon, and it is usually closed on Tuesdays. The café at the spring of Kalopoula is the one place to buy food and drink on the usual walks, so carry water.
When to go
The mountain is walked all year, and weekdays are much quieter than weekends, when the café at the spring of Kalopoula and the road to the Kaisariani Monastery are crowded. In winter, small streams run in the ravines. In summer, start early in the day, because the paths above the forest have no shade, and check the fire-risk level first. On a clear day the view reaches across Athens to the sea.
Getting around
Inside the forest everything is done on foot. Wooden signposts with maps stand at the main path junctions around the Kaisariani Monastery, and red paint marks show the longer routes. For the long crossings of the ridge, carry a hiking map or a recorded track, because many paths are unmarked and fires have destroyed signs in some places. The road to the summit is closed to private cars. Walks that cross the mountain end in a different suburb, so plan the return by bus or taxi.
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